I have IC 6.8 installed for a trading firm. The company sells products which are usually "off the rack", but occasionally needs to send the product to a subcontractor for spray painting prior to delivery to the customer.

What would be the recommended way to deal with a scenario such as the above (other than to record the subcontract costs as a ledger expense) - it would be good to know how much of the stock requires spraying, what colours etc.

Kind regards

Suresh

As you know, Adagio Inventory nor Accpac Plus IC tracks shipments after posting. When an item is shipped, the qty and cost is relieved from inventory from the selected location, the proper GL accounts are updated, and the item is considered 'shipped'. Whether it was sent directly to the buyer or a sub-contractor, Inventory cannot determine this. You may need another module if you want to keep track of 'items in transit via subcontractors'.

If you really have to do this through Inventory, there is only one type of transaction that will allow GL transactions to be generated - Stock Transfers. Adagio Inventory allows 'Item to Item' transfers (which is over and above simple location to location transfers). You could possibly set up a 2nd item, called 'spray painted item', and when you ship an item to a sub-contractor, record this as a stock transfer from the item to the 2nd item. This will also relieve inventory form the first item, add to the second, and handle all costs. You can also add additional costs (perhaps to account for the sub-contractor, but check out if the correct accounts are being used - they may not be). When it comes time to ship the painted item, record this transaction as a shipment.

Also, Adagio Inventory can store 'Notes' on each item. Perhaps this could be a way to track information such as this (though reporting may be limited and no GL transactions would be generated).

The above probably isn't the ideal (or recommended) way to do this. If the above does not generate the required GL transactions (which is quite likely), then I'd suggest re-posting this question on the PlusCommunity forum for other feedback. Perhaps another dealer/user has some info on a setup that work work for your case.

Regards,
Softrak Support

The item to item transfer seems be a logical solution and would meet our needs if we can record the extra cost of the powdercoating. But I gather from what you are saying is that this cost is arbitarily entered rather than as an actual cost.

I'll post it though PlusCommunity and see what comes of it.

Thanks for your help.

Regards

Suresh

For the Item-Item stock transfers, the only GL accounts that are updated are the IC Control and the AP clearing accounts. Neither would be related to costs for subcontracting. Though the extra costs (there are 2; either pro-rated or on the detail) could be exactly what the sub-contract was for, the function probably is not updating the accounts you'd require.

I think that PlusCommunity may be able to give you another solution (ie a UniDevCo add-on product or such).

Regards,
Softrak Support